Forevers off-road adventures

Been a while since I’ve posted anything, so I’ll try and photo dump all of my trips from this summer here soon….

 

First up, camping at near Crested Butte, CO over 4th of July weekend. Absolutely beautiful area, the mountains are spectacular. Camped at around 10,000 feet elevation or so by emerald lake.

 

Man, keep posting/sharing these adventures, very cool pics.

 

Did you put the Rotopax onthe ladder or the roof rack?

 

Thanks! More to come soon. I’ve been slacking on my updates

 

After camping out in crested butte, we worked our way down toward the San Juan’s. Spent the night up near silver jack reservoir up out of ridgeway, CO. Giving that it was 4th of July weekend, it took a while to find a good campsite. Found a pretty decent one by the river in the end though. Also, one of my shackles ended up coming loose and fell off my bumper on one of the forest roads up there, so that was cool.

 

Engineer pass:

Engineer pass has been my favorite trail thus far. The challenging terrain and breathtaking views are unbeatable. I Highly recommend this trail.

we ended up passing through the town of Ouray after spending the night up near silver jack reservoir. The town was jam packed with people due to it be interesting the 4th. Ended up following behind a parade as we drove through. Charming mountain town overall, I definitely want to visit again.

We then headed up the million dollar highway (I believe that’s what it’s called) for about 10 min or so, and sure enough, there was the entrance to Engineer, right off of the highway.
The rough stuff starts right away, probably a good 40 or so feet from the pavement. The trail was packed with people bumper to bumper, crawling their way through the rocks.
Most of the trail on up to the tree line is comprised of “rock shelves” that jut out on the left side of the trail, leaving a narrow flat dirt area on the right side that ends in a steep cliff or drop off. The best plan of approach is to hang left and climb up and over the rocky obstacles, as trying to straddle them with your driver side on the rocks and passenger side wheels on the narrow dirt part would end up precariously pitching your vehicle way over in an off camber scenario.

here, I was thankful for the 4Runners size. While not the smallest 4x4 by any measure, it was nimble and compact enough to snake through the rocks and take line choices that larger full sizes couldn’t. I was following a Ford Raptor for a section of the trail, and despite all the fancy offroad tech from the factory, the big ford struggled a good amount more than I did due to its bulk.

Ended up running the rest of the trail with a Jeep Gladiator that we met up with half way. He was kind enough to let me borrow his air down tools, as I didn’t have any. This was my first time ever airing down, and let me say, what a world of difference it makes. I don’t think I wanna do even a fire road without airing down anyone haha.

getting above the tree line was spectacular. It feels as if you were transported into another country, hard to believe you were still in the lower 48.

all in all, a 10/10 experience. I look forward to returning to take on the rest of the alpine loop.

 

Bunce/T33 trail report:

I did this trail around mid July of 2023. To say this trail was rough is an understatement, at least compared to prior experiences. This is the first “difficult” rated level 5 trail I’ve done, per the TrailsOffroad app.
I ran the T33 portion with a local group called 4GXCruisers. They’re a Toyota based offroad group whose members mainly run the Lexus GX platform, both the 460 and 470. Though all are welcome.

the trail starts northwest of Boulder and directly south of Estes Park. The full name is Bunce school road, and the trail will take you past an old log cabin school house, if I recall correctly. Bunce is rated a level 4, or “moderate” though it’s a rough 4 and there are plenty of tricky rock sections where you need to go slow and make good line choices.

T33 trail is an offshoot of Bunce that takes you to an old plane crash up in the mountains. The is where the “fun” begins. The whole trail is littered with sizeable boulders and rock ledges. The trail requires your consistent focus and smart line choices to make it through without damage. No casual sections here where you can ease up a bit, you’re crawling up and over rocks and getting bounced around the entire way.

This trail is also where I realized I really need skid plates and sliders. Being only mildly lifted and on 33s meant opting for a few bypass lines instead of taking on the hardest obstacles.

In conclusion, this trail was FUN. It was the most technical trail I’d done to that point and my first “real” rock crawling experience. Arguably a cut above Engineer pass which I’d done a few weeks before. It made all my other casual dirt road and “overlanding” experiences pale in comparison, and lit a fire under me to take on all the difficult trails Colorado has to offer.
forget roof top tents and give me rocks.

Bunce trail. Not technical, but rough


Beginning of T33 trail.





Wouldn’t be a proper trail run without a jeep breaking right ??

 

Middle St. Vrain/ Coney flats trail report

Ran this trail with friends around the end of July. While not quite as rough as T33, it definitely was pretty close, and more destructive as far as total group damage went.

the trail featured multiple rock garden sections that didn’t really have any viable bypass options, and I still didn’t have skids or sliders yet. Told myself this was the last “hard” trail I do without armor.

toward the end, there was a pretty deep water crossing. I watched a stock ZJ plow through and fill his floorboards with water, thankfully with my mild lift and 33s, I was an able to clear it no problem, but the water was DEEP. There were hidden rocks under the water that you either had to avoid or crawl over, none of them being visible. Watched a few dirt bikes flood their motors trying to get across as well.

total group damage:

Multiple banged up skid pages and sliders. But that’s their job so I suppose it doesn’t count

a GX460 gouged out their muffler on a rock, but it sounds better now so I’ll count that as a win

I smashed up my bumper pretty good. Departure clearance on 5th gen’s isn’t great.

a Tacoma tried to race through the water crossing and ended up hydro locking his motor the day before. The owner ended up having to leave his truck on the trail overnight, followed by a 3 hour hike to get back with tools the next day. We ended up towing him out. It was rough going as he had no power steering and we still had about an hour of rocks to navigate through before the trail ended.

Middle St. Vrain is a really fun trail and I highly recommend it to anyone near the Denver area. Just be sure your vehicle has decent ground clearance and armor.

 

You gave Toyota’s moto “Let’s Go Places” a new meaning

 

Haha yup, I try. That was my main motivation behind getting a 4Runner. To get out and explore off road.

 

Argentine Peak trail run:

I did this trial with friends in September 2023. The trail itself wasn’t particularly challenging, with only a few difficult obstacles. The views and scenery were absolutely spectacular though. Probably second to engineer for me.

lots of photos so enjoy !

 

Nice report and pictures,thanks for the tour.

 

Very cool pictures and report! Wish I was there.

 

Thank you!

 

Thanks! It definitely memorable. Now I’m just waiting for the snow to melt so the high elevation passes will open up again.

 

Figured I’d include the geological tag for Argentine as well. 13,200 feet elevation at the end of the trail.

 

That all looks awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

It looks like you roll with a decent sized group of off-roaders. How did you come to connect with them and how do y'all make it work to get out so often? Or it seems like you do...

 

I actually met this group during a solo trail run. The group leaders are pretty much always hosting a weekend event, they had events 50 out of 52 weeks last year. A lot of the group members are regulars. We have also became pretty good friends in the process, having barbecues and hangouts at each others houses, wrench days, camping trips, etc. there’s always something going on and I consider myself blessed to have met them all.

 

This thread is gold! I just got my 4Runner and am stuck on the East coast for a bit longer. This is the kind of thread that let’s me know I am moving the right direction. Much appreciated!

 

Thanks! Yeah Colorado has some world class areas to explore, that’s for sure.

 

Not a whole lot happened in the way of wheeling trips during the last few months of 2023. Work, other trips, and life in general took precedence.

this one took place toward the end of December. My friends and I were going to try out snow wheeling at Yankee hill trail, west of Idaho springs. We made it about 10 min up the trail through the easy snow, and decided the hilly sections of the trail were too slick and risky and we called a day. Kind of a dud trip, but you win some you lose some.

Also, check out my buddy’s Subaru on 35’s. Things wild.

 

Not to be defeated by the Yankee hill trip, I set out on a solo mission to find decent snow a week or so later. I ended up at South Spring Gulch, just south of Idaho springs. The trip went ok, I spent about a half hour or so revving my motor to the moon and back, trying to spin and claw my way up the steep hilly trail. Ended up in about 2ft deep worth of snow before I called it a day.

not super eventful or exciting, but I did get to use my traction boards for once, proving that they are, in fact, more than just for looking cool.

 

Modification time!

I’d been driving around the 4Runner without any skid plates or sliders for about a year now. Honestly, I was pushing my luck, taking on trails such as T33 and Coney flats without any armor. Time to change that.

I picked up some sliders from BodyArmor4x4. They’re the 25 degree kick out model, and had only been out on the market for a few months at the time of purchasing. Got them installed near the end of December

 

Skid plates were from ARB. Got a full set including the front, engine, transmission, and transfer case. Got these installed with friends during a wrench day. The matte grey looks super sharp, I love how they look!

 

My dorky roof basket had to go, found this roof rack on FB marketplace for a good price. Baja racks are normally expensive, with all of their models starting well north of a thousand bucks. Glad I found a good deal on one. Slapped a 42” Roadshock LED light bar up there to finish the look.

 

Quick trip up to Switzerland trail up out of Boulder, in the beginning of Jan, 2024.

Just cruising around and showing my dad the mountains as he flew in from the PNW to visit. Ended up winching out a stuck frontier.

 

Bumper chop time. Jan 28, 2024

My next project was something I had meaning to do for a while. My rear bumper had gotten a little crunched up from my various wheeling trips. I’d say the 5th gen’s rear departure angle is one of its weak points.

I wanted to get rid of the scraped sections and gain more rear clearance. Plus, it looks way more lifted, which is always a plus in my book.

 

Quick day trip up above Colorado Springs along gold camp road at the beginning of February. Just an easy cruise.